Palm Inc. officials have announced the smartphone and handheld maker is to develop a new operating system for its devices, based on the Linux operating system. Palm used the "Palm OS" operating system and has also put out Treo smartphones running Windows Mobile. "We think there is a big wave coming in this whole mobile computing revolution, which is becoming a bigger part of the overall mobile phone business. We have an enormous opportunity going forward," he said at a meeting with analysts in NYC. "You can expect us to do business development around the world."

Palm Chief Executive Ed Colligan said the new operating system was in the works for years in secrecy. There have been multiple reasons for Palm's efforts to develop a new operating system. First of all, the Sunnyvale-based company doesn't own the Palm OS and spent $44 million last year for a permanent license to use it. Furthermore, the operating system was subject to criticism for its lack of major improvements over time. The Palm OS was owned by spin-off Palmsource, which was acquired by Access.